Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – Non-governmental organizations called on the Yudhoyono administration Friday to press on with corruption cases involving state officials and legislators, despite objections from the House of Representatives.
The call from Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) and Imparsial came after the House working group on law enforcement and regional administration recommended Tuesday that the government rehabilitate the names of regional heads and council members implicated in corruption cases.
The House accused the government of being discriminatory in battling corruption at the regional level and of criminalizing regional councilors. "The recommendation is akin to asking the government to make a mass acquittal for the corrupt," Emerson Yunto of the ICW said.
The ICW reported that at least 55 corruption cases involving 350 public officials and lawmakers were filed with district courts from January 2005 through June 2006. Emerson added that about 1,200 regional council members were named suspects, charged and convicted of corruption from 1999 until the end of 2004.
"We demand that the government ignore those recommendations," he said, adding that they were clearly counterproductive to the nation's anti-graft drive.
The House's working group was established in March in response to complaints filed by some regional council members suspected of or charged with graft allegations.
Trimedya Panjaitan, who headed the working group, said the government had discriminated against lawmakers from political party factions. Very few of those from the military faction have been charged with the offense, he said.
"This is our political stance. (Should the government ignore the recommendations), it will risk the good relations between the executive and the legislative body," Trimedya said.
Danang Wahyu, also from the ICW, said that the House members should press the government to start probing military officials in regional councils.
"They should instead expedite the deliberation of the military tribunal law so that the government can try military officials in civil courts," he said. Under current law, military personnel can only be tried in military courts. "They protested the discrimination (against them) by issuing a recommendation that is equally discriminatory," he added.
The ICW and Imparsial demanded the legislative body not abuse its power by intervening in government policies regarding the eradication of corruption that might affect the interests of lawmakers.
Both deplored the House's statement that public officials had been criminalized for the policies they made, saying that policy making was prone to corrupt practices.
They urged the government to take legal action against anyone suspected of corruption, be they politicians, military personnel, bureaucrats or people from the private sector.